Pope Francis' address to a joint meeting of Congress Sept. 24 will be broadcast live to members of the public on the West Front of the Capitol, House Speaker John Boehner announced Wednesday.

"The visit of Pope Francis to the U.S. Capitol is a historic moment for the country," he said in a statement, adding that "the unprecedented nature of his visit" prompted the decision to broadcast his address.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcement that Pope Francis would visit the United Nations the morning of Sept. 25 to address the U.N. General Assembly.

In a statement Wednesday, the United Nations also said the pope would meet separately with the secretary-general and with the president of the General Assembly and would participate in a town hall gathering with U.N. staff.

Food stamps feed one in five children in the United States, and the Republicans, led by Catholic Republican Congressman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, his former presidential running mate, Mitt Romney, and Catholic Republican House Speaker John Boehner want to decimate the food stamps program with immoral and inhumane budget cuts. Time will tell if Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Rick Santorum and Marco Rubio support such hard-hearted class warfare policies.

Editor's note: Michael Sean Winters is on vacation this week. Filling in for him are various writers from Millennial, a journal featuring the writing of millennial Catholics. Winters will be back next week.